Fireflies
by GreenBinderGirl
Summary: One lazy summer day Team Ten decides to lie in the shade together, for the last time.


**Fireflies **

It was the first day of summer. The sky was a deep, perfect blue. Thin, ridged streams of clouds streaked across it. Shikamaru was lying in his favourite cloud-watching spot, under a beautiful cherry blossom tree on top of a bright green hill. He sighed in content and placed his arms behind his head, leaning back. This beautiful day could not get any better then this, and he intended to lie in this spot all day and watch it creep slowly past.

About ten minutes later, however, Shikamaru heard—with a look of annoyance evident on his face—the soft sound of padded footsteps. Someone sat down next to him.

"Hey, Shikamaru. Watching the clouds again?"

Shikamaru's look of annoyance turned into a grin. He turned his head to look at his best friend and said, "Of course."

Chouji chuckled and reached into his bag of potato chips. He took out a small handful, and then handed the bag to Shikamaru. "Do ya want a chip?" he asked.

Shikamaru shrugged. "All right. But these better not be those troublesome guacamole chips like last time."

"Don't worry, they aren't. Just regular potato chips."

The young genius took two chips from the bag and chewed on them slowly. He turned his gaze back onto the sky. Chouji munched quietly on his chips, occasionally moving into a more comfortable position. The two of them stayed that way for nearly an hour. The chips in Chouji's bag were less than half-gone, but there was still a fair amount left. Just as Shikamaru's eyes were about to close, attempting to resist the lazy summer heat, he heard the sound of footsteps once again.

Ino was walking across the hill. Flowers broke in two softly as she stepped on them, walking diagonally to reach Shikamaru and Chouji in the shade of the cherry blossom tree. She stopped when she was there, standing behind the two so she was not in their way.

Ino settled down and pulled her legs up to her chest. Chouji turned to her and offered her some chips. She took one and placed the whole thing in her mouth, chomping down on it quickly.

"Ino," Shikamaru said, "didn't you say you were going to the mall with Sakura?"

"I was, but Sakura got a last-minute mission."

"That would suck," Chouji said with a bitter face. "To have a mission on a day like this."

"Summer missions are so troublesome," Shikamaru said. Ino hit him upside the head.

"You think _everything_ is troublesome, lazy ass," she muttered. Shikamaru muttered something about "troublesome women and their troublesome ways".

The three of them spent twenty more minutes like that, just sitting there, watching the clouds. Ino reached into the bag and pulled out a chip. She reached back in to get another one, but realized that it was empty.

_Oh no,_ she thought. _How could Chouji not have noticed that this was the last chip? I better put it back in the bag…_

But before she could, Shikamaru smirked at her and said, "Hey Ino, is that Chouji's last chip?"

Chouji's ear twitched.

"Um...! Oh, um, uh…yeah…"

Her slim fingers trembling slightly, Ino placed the unbroken potato chip back into its plastic bag. To her horror—and amazement—Shikamaru took the chip out of the bag.

"We aren't going to be together forever," he said. "Team Ten isn't going to spend lazy summer afternoons like this in the future. We'll be adults then. We're nearly adults now."

Shikamaru sat up and turned to Chouji. "Everyone in Konoha knows that Chouji would _never_ let anyone eat his last chip. But I would like to make an exception, for today. I would like to cut the chip into three equal pieces, so we could share it. Just once."

"Mmm…okay," Chouji said.

Ino blinked and said, "But…how do you cut a _potato chip_ into three equal pieces?"

Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and said, "Like this." He did a couple of hand signs and the chip split into three perfect parts.

"Wow," Chouji said. "I didn't know there was a jutsu like that."

"Well, it's mostly used for slicing an enemy into three equal pieces, but it can also be used like this," Shikamaru explained. Ino gave him a wry smile.

"Leave it to the lazy-ass genius to come up with something like that."

Shikamaru didn't respond. He handed Chouji and Ino their respectable pieces, then settled back onto the grass. Chouji crumpled up the empty bag and tucked it away into the pocket of his jacket. Ino looked hesitantly at the quarter of a chip, afraid that something terrible might happen if she did eat it.

The only sound that could be heard was the sound of three potato chips being eaten simultaneously.

"You're right," Ino said with wonder, "the last chip really is the best one."

"What'd I tell ya?" Chouji said happily.

"I've eaten better," Shikamaru said bitterly. Chouji gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder.

Ino stood up and brushed crumbs off of her dark purple skirt. "I have to go now," she said. "It's getting late—I promised my parents I would take the night shift in the flower shop today. See you!" Before she leaved she leaned down and gave the two boys a hug. "Goodbye," she whispered.

It was twilight now. The sky was flushed bright shades of orange, pink and gold, along with a brilliant streak of crimson. Every now and again Shikamaru saw fireflies light up in the grass. He cupped one in his hand and looked at it. "Look at the firefly," he told Chouji. "Did you know that it's only the males that light up?"

"No," Chouji said. "Why?"

"To attract a mate."

"You know a lot," Chouji said. "You really are a genius. Not just a genius with battle tactics and mathematics, like most people think."

"Well, I have to do something during the winter when there's nothing to do."

Chouji laughed softly. He glanced up at the sky. It was quite dark—only a few tendrils of light snaked across the sky, what's left of the still setting sun.

"I have to leave," he said. "My parents will kill me if I miss dinner."

"All right. Bye."

And with that, Chouji left, following the path Ino had taken half an hour before. Shikamaru spread his legs out and put his arms behind him, supporting himself. He closed his eyes and breathed in the smell of earth and plants. It was a nice smell, a smell unique to Konoha during the summertime. No other village and summers quite like Konoha.

"I'm going to miss sitting here with them," he commented to himself.

Shikamaru stayed there, eyes closed, for a long time. He dozed off for a little bit, and when he woke up the sky was black and sprinkled with stars. They gleamed brightly and twinkled. Shikamaru waved a couple of fireflies out of the way as he sat up, brushing himself off.

"It's about time that I go, as well," he said to no one. He stared at the sky for two more minutes, then left, in the opposite direction that Ino and Chouji had gone.

**Author's Notes:**

It's just a drabble thing I did. I know that it's no where near summer; it's the end of autumn, but…

They were probably out of character. I'm really sorry if the flow doesn't seem right. This story basically just wrote itself. I was trying to think of something to write about, then my thoughts turned to summer, which led to Shikamaru, which led to team ten…so on and so on.

So, yeah. I'm sorry if it doesn't seem very good…


End file.
